In this spine-tingling final installment of my bit of price comparison, I present Sam's Club vs. Costco. Let the battle begin...

Yesterday, I mentioned that Best Buy wasn't much of a competitor to Costco. I went to Sam's today to get a few items and tried to price the vacuum, printer, and TV that I found at Best Buy and Costco. But I couldn't find two of the three. It was obvious that Sam's Club had a much smaller selection of printers, TV's, and vacuums.

But here is the comparison of the vacuum, with Sam's club on the left:

Vacuum

Again, Costco wins.

For what it's worth, I did find the same HP printer next door at the Wal-Mart. We had to go there to get my son a notebook for school. Here's Wal-Mart's price on the left, Costco's on the right.

Printer

I did find other, more household-type items at Sam's that I could compare to Costco. Here they are, with Sam's Club prices on the left and Costco on the right.

Cheerios

Mach 3 Razors

Yukon Jack

I own "memberships" to both. My goal was to learn which is better for my wallet. Costco wins, because Sam's Club can't offer me anything at a better price.

I had to go shopping tonight for both groceries and a new phone battery. Not far from home, there's a Costco and a Best Buy. Since I had my camera on hand, I decided to record a little comparison pricing. Is a Costco membership worth it?

At random, I compared three items in each store: an HP Printer, a Hoover vacuum, and a Philips TV. (I apologize in advance for the fuzzy images. I recorded it as a movie as I walked by the items, and then had to capture the video after I got home.)

The item on the left is Best Buy. The item on the right is Costco.

Printer

Vacuum

TV

As you can see, Costco does in fact save you quite a bit of money.

Now, in fairness, the fella at the Best Buy told me that Best Buy would meet the price of competitors when better, as long as the competitor had the item in stock. But how are they going to prove that?? Sounds like a lot of time to get the same price that you can already get at Costco. Costco wins, although they didn't have a replacement battery for my phone. That's why I had to go to Best Buy...

Tomorrow, I need to swing by Sam's Club as I will be in that area. I'll compare more items to see if Costco beats Sam's.

Oh, and gas was $1.83 at Costco. Is that a deal? Better than other places, but mercy - my F250 sure eats that stuff up fast. Hard to be a deal at that price level.